Christmas 2006

Day 1 – December 23

In which we successfully dodge the family ambush...

We decided to get the family visits out of the way, while I am still sick enough to easily justify staying home in bed. Trying to wrap presents Saturday morning was a chore, as my mind and reflexes were stuck on one speed – molasseses, with a memory retention of five minutes. Rare is it for me to be so out of it, even when I am feeling unwell. J ended up wrapping the majority of the gifts for both of our families.

After some tea we set off for my parents home in DuBois (the home the hot dog stuffed with peanut butter, in case that monstrosity has slipped from memory) to drop off gifts. My parents had us open our presents. Then we hit the road again to make it to a Christmas party hosted by J's cousin.

But first, a stop at J's parents to drop off another load of gifts, complete with the frantic scramble to remember the alarm code. After tucking the presents underneath the tree, we headed to J's cousin for some holiday merriment.

J's family Christmas celebrations are usually dry affairs. Imagine my shock to discover that J's cousin stocked the garage with beer, the counter with liquor and wine and the fridge with plenty of soda, seltzer and water for mixing.

It turned out I needed the single Strawberry Daiquiri I imbibed during dinner, as J's aunt ambushed him for an explanation as to why we would not be attending Wigilia this year. The ambush continued as we went through the process of saying our goodbyes. In spite of J's repeated assertions that we would not be spending the night, would not be having dinner with the extended family on Christmas Eve and had most of next weekend booked with activities with friends, various family members simply refused to believe that any of his statements were true.

By the time we made it home it was late, we were exhausted and I had a massive headache.

Day 2 – December 24

Last Minute Shopping...

J woke earlier to visit the Strip District to pick up the ingredients for Christmas dinner while I slept. When I woke, it was a clear head and more energy than I've had in the past two weeks, enough energy to finish the last minute shopping I had been putting off because I was so tired.

Sundays in winter mean Steeler games, and Christmas Eve was not exception. The Waterfront was quiet, the traffic almost manageable, the general population of shoppers congenial. As a bonus, I found a dress to wear on New Year's Eve.

It took me most of the afternoon to finish up. As the day was beautiful and most people were merry, I did not mind wandering aimlessly around in the sunshine.

The highlight of the afternoon was an exchange with a shopper in the line at Giant Eagle. As we waited for the cashier to ring up her groceries, we overheard a conversation in the next lane over, in which two women mocked those (myself included) who would use a check/debit card to pay for small purchases. As the cashier announced the (substantial)total on the woman's groceries, she turned to me and said “Do you think the debit card police would approve of me?” which made us both laugh.

I made J open one of his presents early, a volume of Animaniacs cartoons on DVD. We spent the evening watching episodes from the DVD.

Day 3 – Christmas Day

Holly, Jolly, Peaceful Christmas...

After opening gifts, J happily set up train track in the dining room to terrorize the three cats and alternately nagged me to crack open the iPod Shuffle he gave me so he can see how it works.

I have a 40GB iPod which I use to back up all my music and take on trips. I asked for a smaller one to take to the gym, and he obliged. He also raided my Amazon wish list for ideas, so I now have an enormous pile of books to read, mostly non-fiction. He even managed to track down some obscure hockey books from my list and special ordered them (although some have not made it to our door yet).

I did nothing today. It was glorious.